16th November, 2018 – Liang Jiang, Fujian, China: Dutchman Ivar Slik of the Monkey Town team was the third rider to claim his maiden pro victory in three days of racing at the 2018 Tour of Fuzhou, following the examples set by Chinese sensation Lyu Xianjing and Germany’s Leon Rohde. He gave it all for the stage win along with his two breakaway companions Ilya Davidenok of Beijing XDS-Innova and Ben Dyball of St-George who moved up to first and second places, respectively, on GC. Lyu bravely defended his overall lead in a rain soaked day in Liang Jiang but missed out on bringing the main group across by 15 seconds in the thrilling finale of a short but demanding stage.

Stage 3 winner Ivar Slik said: “I’m very happy to get a pro win here. I looked at the stage profiles before the Tour of Fuzhou and I thought this Friday’s stage was my chance. It was a hilly one but not too hilly. I took it a little bit easy yesterday and the day before to be able to go full gas today.
“I felt really good in the first climb. I reached the top in the first ten riders I think. In the descent, I got a gap with two strong competitors. We decided to ride full gas to the finish and see how far we’d come. We rode strongly on the flat with one minute lead at the bottom of the last climb. One guy [Ben Dyball] from the peloton came across and the third guy [Stanislau Bazhkou] of the early breakaway dropped, so we were three again. I was up there with two GC riders and I was not up on GC anymore so my goal was the stage win, and they did a good job for the GC. I could easily take the win in the sprint.”
Statistic of the day
Ivar Slik is the first Dutchman to win a stage at the Tour of Fuzhou. His compatriots Jasper Ockeloen and Peter Schulting, also riding for Monkey Town – previously known as Parkhotel Valkenburg – achieved the final podium in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
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